Tag Archives: Book Review

I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed everything about this book: the characters, the writing, the pacing and plot. Everything was great. Except for one thing that wasn’t. One thing that made me go from giving this book a 5 stars to a 4 stars…Ruby. I’ll start off with this positives first, and then talk about my one negative. WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE DARKEST MINDS AND NEVER FADE!

Plot- The story started off a bit slow, and I wasn’t really sure how I was feeling about it. But I kept going, and it really started to pick up. Next thing I new it was 3:30am and I’m still up reading. I was doing that whole “just one more chapter” thing us readers do. When Ruby finally ended up going on a mission for the League to find Liam and the flashdrive, that’s when it started to pick up and damn it got good! They’re were so many surprises that you don’t expect and it just keeps you wanting more.

Characters- The characters, I think are the best thing about this books! They’re fun, strong, bad-ass, and real. I was surprised to find myself really loving the new characters: Jude, Nico, and Vida…especially Vida. But what I really loved more than that, was seeing Ruby reunite with old characters. CHUBS! LIAM! Even though both reunions were completely different and surprising, it was amazing to see!

Liam and Ruby- One thing I really loved about The Darkest Minds, was the relationship between Liam and Ruby, and the way it ended in the first book was heartbreaking! I was so glad to see them finally reunite in this one, although I knew it wasn’t going to be the same. I was surprised to find out that even though Ruby erased herself from Liam’s memories, his feelings were still there. So when he saw her, he just knew.

Now lets talk about the one thing I didn’t like about this book:

Ruby- I just want to point out that yes, Ruby did have moments in this book where I did like her, but for most of the book she got on my damn nerves. Most of the time, that happened was when she was alone, or with the leaders of the children‘s league. She just seemed like a completely different person, at least until she got her friends back: Chubs and Liam. With them by her side again, she seemed like the same old Ruby, whom I did like. Without them, she was mean, rude, and just cold. I also didn’t like how she trusted Cole. I get that he looks like Liam, but he’s not Liam. You don’t know him, so why trust him? Why keep a secret from Liam, because Cole asked you to? You already messed with his memories, now you’re going to keep a secret from him about his brother? You should be trying to earn his trust back, not keeping secrets. It frustrated me.

Marko as aligned himself with Prince IV, as both of them try to find there families. It’s a very uneasy alliance as they both seem to hate each other. However, when you have a common goal you try and work together. I really enjoyed there arc together. Mainly because we got to see Marko, and Ghus(whom I adore). We got to see Marko high as all hell, and get a view into his past.

Alana is with Klara, as they’re being kept by Dengo who also has the kidnapped Princeling and Hazel. He has called the Revolution to where they were to make a deal with them. Although nothing goes as planned and all hell breaks loose!

We also follow Gwendolyn, Sophie, Lying Cat, The Brand, searching for a cure to save The Will! Trust me when I say, shit gets really weird in this storyline!

Ohhhhh and I just have one thing to say….Dragon jizz….Dragon freakin jizz. That is all.

As always this story has beautiful artwork, and amazing writing. The humor is on point, and the characters are wonderful! Throughout the whole story your so invested and just needing to know what happens next. As always, we are left on a cliffhanger, and I can’t wait to read the next volume!

This will contain SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! This was my first Rick Yancy read, and I’m glad hat I picked this one! This book starts off with the others ship landing on earth. Everything was quite for ten days. After the tenth day…all hell broke loose.

So I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book. I knew it was about aliens and an invasion, but that’s all I knew. I really loved this take on the story. The waves and different stages of attack. I found myself wanting to keep reading, because I wanted to know what was going to happen. I could say it was the characters, which in some part it was. But.i really think it was Rick Yancey’s writing. There’s something about his writing that keep me invested!

The characters were fantastic. Going into this, I had NO IDEA this was told in different perspectives. Here I am reading from Cassie’s perspective, and then all of sudden it’s talking about someone being called Zombie. I was like what the hell? Afterward, it’s easy to differentiate whose point of view! My favorite to read from is Ben. I found his story to be the one that I was most invested in!

Cassie is such a strong, sarcastic and funny character! It was great to read from her and get her point of view of the invasion. We follow Cassie as she tries to get to her brother Sammy who gets taken to Wright Patterson(Camp Haven) a supposed safe zone! She goes through so much on the way including meeting Evan, the man who shoots and saves her!

Evan is cool, and very bad-ass, but also creepy in my opinion. When I was reading it I just found some of the things he did and said to be creepy. I like him as a character, but I’m hoping we get to read more from his perspective in the next book! Maybe I won’t find him to be as creepy!

Ben is my favorite! He’s strong, loyal and he makes a good leader. I loved his relationship with Nugget(Sammy). It was so cute! I loved that he went back for Nugget when he found out the truth, and went back for Cassie at the end when he could’ve easily left her.

Speaking of the ending, it was my favorite part of this whole book! I loved how we were reading from the different perspectives and then it all comes together: Cassie, Ben, Evan, and Nugget(Sam). The ending had me pulled in, and Cassie, Ben and Evan make a hell of a team! I wouldn’t want to be on the bad side of them!

Title- Life and DeathAuthor- Stephenie MeyerPages- 389Rating- 4 out of 5Companion/Sequel/Other- Twilight Reimagined!

This was my first read of 2016, and I have to say, I quite enjoyed it! This story brought me back into the world of Twilight, which I haven’t been in awhile! It definitely made me want to reread the original as well, so I’m thinking I may do a reread of the saga this year.

This story follows the same story as Twilight, however with some changes in the scenes, and dialogue to work with the gender swap! It does take some time to get adjusted to these characters. I admit that I definitely had a hard time picturing Beau and Edthye because I was so use to the original characters. However, once you’re able to do that you do get to enjoy these characters. My favorite was Archie, who is this books Alice!

The ending! I really enjoyed the ending of this book! It was fun to see how Twilight could have ended if it was just a standalone book. I’m glad I got to see this alternate ending, however I do feel as though it was rushed. I do prefer the original ending for Twilight. This ending also made me a bit depressed. Because of Beau changing, he had to fake his own death and he never got to apologize for what he said to Charlie before he left, and you can tell how he regrets that. It was upsetting, and I’m glad that wasn’t the original ending!

I honestly believe people had too high expectations, and were expecting a bit much from this story. Going into this I expected a fun, enjoyable, slightly different story because of the gender swap, and that’s what I got. I honestly believe because I wasn’t expecting a lot, I enjoyed it more than others.

You have to enjoy this story for what it is. A fun, enjoyable story that Stephenie wrote for the fans. Also for those saying that this was published for just a cash grab, I have to disagree. A tenth anniversary edition would have been published anyway, this was just something fun that she though the fans would enjoy. Enjoy it for what it is, and I think you’ll have fun with this story!

Title- The Darkest MindsAuthor- Alexandra BrackenPages- 488Rating- 4 out of 5Companion/Sequel/Other- Book 1

Okay so this is the last book that I read in 2015, and I’m happy to say that it was a good one! I tried reading this book about two years ago and I just couldn’t finish it. Here we are two later, and not only did I give it another go and finished it, I ended up really enjoying it. I don’t know what it was this time, but I passed the part where I stopped the first time, and I honestly couldn’t remember why I didn’t finish it before.

I really did enjoy the idea of this story- the camps, the different colors and powers. However, and this is what made me give it a four stars. Even though they talked about the powers, I honestly didn’t feel like they gave us enough explanation about them. By the end of this book, I still didn’t know much about the powers. I mean we got the basics, but that was really it. I just wanted more from that.

I absolutely adored the characters- Ruby, Liam, Chubs, and Zu. Seriously, they work so well together and are just an all around great team. I couldn’t wait to find out more about these characters, especially Ruby.

Ruby’s story, even though it took awhile to get to it, was heartbreaking. I felt so bad for what happened to her as a kid, and it really makes you see how strong her powers are. I want to say that even though I can see why people say that she can be an unlikable character, I personally loved her. I thought she was fun, strong, and sweet. However, that’s not to say that she’s not flawed because she definitely is.

This book was crazy and it felt like these kids were being chased by EVERYONE! The PSFs agents, skip tracers,bounty hunters, the League. Pretty much everyone and anyone were after them. Especially Ruby and Liam, for what Ruby was, and for what Liam did. Liam was worth a lot of money to people!

I want to talk about the romance for a second. I noticed that a lot of people seem to love or dislike the romance. Me? I’m on the love side. I absolutely adore Liam and Ruby and definitely think they make a great couple. You can see the connection from the beginning, and it definitely took some time to develop but I loved it. Liam is absolutely amazing and one of my favorite lines from this book came from him:

“Give me one reason why we can’t be together, and I’ll give you a hundred why we can.”

Last but not least, the ending. Oh god, the last few chapters were extremely heartbreaking and it left us on such a cliffhanger. I can’t wait to find out what the heck will happen next.

So I read quite a few books this year, and I thought it would be fun to share my Best Books of 2015! Now these books weren’t published in 2015, just ones that I read. I will start with number 6 and work my way down to my FAVORITE for the year!

Number Six:The Silence of Six by E.C. Myers

This book was different from anything I’ve read this year, and I was surprised by how I much I really enjoyed it. It follows a boy named Max whose best friend Evan hacks into the live stream of the presidential debate being hosted at there school. He ends up killing himself, but not before sending Max a final message. From there he’s brought back into a life he thought he left behind!

Number Five:My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

I won’t say much about this one because I did a review which you can check out HERE. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and found myself loving all the characters in this story. I absolutely adore Jase and his family!

Number Four:Under the Never Sky trilogy by Veronica Rossi

This serious is seriously so addicting. I was hooked from the beginning, and I read the trilogy in about a week. I fell in love with characters individually and together. Not only that, but the world that Veronica Rossi created is great!

Number Three:Origin by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I won’t say much about this one either because I did a full review as well, HERE. Also this is the fourth book in the LUX series and I don’t want to ruin in. Keep in mind that my review does have spoilers. I will say that I couldn’t stop reading this and I loved the ending so much!

Number Two:Article 5 trilogy by Kristen Simmons

This trilogy was a complete and total surprise! From the first chapter I was hooked by the world and the characters! I absolutely loved the relationships and the characters and couldn’t put these books down!

and coming in at Number One is an author: Tillie Cole!

I discovered Tillie Cole this summer and have read six of her books so far. I absolutely adore her stories and definitely have to say that all of her books I’ve read have been my favorite this year.

I’m telling you Tillie Cole is truly an amazing author. Everything she writes draws you in. I’ve never read anything that has made me feel the way that Tillie Cole stories do. They’re addicting, raw, emotionally draining and just simply beautiful! Of course, before you continue on there will be SPOILERS, MAJOR SPOILERS, for this book!

This book follows the characters of Lexi and Austin who we meet in Sweet Home and Sweet Rome by Tillie Cole. This book was so different from the first two. I enjoyed the first two books, but I honestly didn’t feel as emotionally drained reading those as I did with this book. This book is tough to get through, but it’s so worth it.

Lexi. Lexi is the girl who puts on a fake, happy, cheery persona, but underneath it all she is in so much pain. She has an eating disorder, specifically she’s anorexic. Has been since she was 16 years old. Now I’ve never dealt with this type of situation before, nor have I known anyone who is anorexic so I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. This book was really tough to read because of what both the characters went through. Reading the thoughts going through her mind about how she looked was extremely hard. She never thought she looked good, she always thought she could lose a few more pounds. Just a few more pounds and she’ll be perfect. Then after losing those few pounds, just a few more pounds. It was truly heartbreaking to read. I even found myself saying “you’re perfect” a few times.

Austin. Austins situation was just as hard to read. Austin’s childhood was a shitty one. He was introduced to the gang at a young age, and figured that was what his life would be. Until football of course. He managed to get his way out of the gang(thanks to his older brother Axel. I honestly don’t know how I feel about him. I want to hug him, and punch him in the face at the same time.) Anyway, Austin is now part of the Tides and the wide receiver and he’s damn good. The NFL and a better life for him and his family is right around the corner. That is until his past comes back. Austin’s mother is very, very sick, and because of that Austin has to choose what he wants in life. He ends up going back to his old life, the gang, and selling drugs to get the money needed to care for his mother. It’s understandable, but truly heartbreaking to read. Austin worked so hard to get out and make a better life for himself, and he gets brought back in to help his family.

I really felt as though Austin and Lexi wouldn’t work well together. Especially with everything that was going on with them, with how damaged they both were, you would think they would never work. Strange this is, because of how damaged and messed up they both are, they end up being quite perfect for one another. They help each other out when it’s needed the most, and they bring each other back from the darkest moments.

The only negative thing(and honestly it’s not even a negative, more of a personal preference of mine), I really wish there was a bit more humor in this book. I understand that this dealt with such serious topics, which is why I wish there was a bit more humor. I felt so emotionally drained by the end of it.

This book is though to read, but absolutely worth it. I would highly, highly recommend this book, or any of Tillie Cole’s books(I’ve read 6 so far, and each have been amazing!)

“Why the war paint, Pix?Because I can’t stand the girl underneath….“Why the tattoos ?”Because I can’t bear seeing the scars of my past.”

“It’s funny. I used to look up at the stars and feel so small and unimportant. But I’ve come to realize that the only thing that can ever make you feel alive and important is the one person who takes you for you.”